Emma Thompson used an onstage conversation at the Locarno Film Festival to revisit a story she first told years ago: while shooting Primary Colors in 1998, a phone in her trailer rang and the caller introduced himself as Donald Trump, inviting her to dinner and offering a stay at one of his properties.
She said she declined, later connecting the unexpected outreach to the same day her divorce papers arrived and joking that the attention felt like “stalking.” She quipped that saying yes might have “changed” American history, a line that drew laughs from the crowd.
Thompson was in Locarno to receive the festival’s Leopard Club Award and to present new work, appearing on the Piazza Grande before thousands of attendees. The 78th edition runs August 6–16 in Switzerland, with special tributes and a lineup that includes studio premieres and archival selections; the award recognizes Thompson’s decades of screenwriting and acting across drama and comedy.
Her remarks ranged widely, including a candid aside about her appearances as Professor Sybill Trelawney in the Harry Potter films. Thompson told the audience the franchise was “not really an important part” of her creative life, saying she came in for a small turn and left “quite well paid,” a pragmatic assessment that contrasted with fan enthusiasm for the character.
The anecdote about Trump has circulated before through televised interviews, but the Locarno retelling added fresh detail on timing and tone, with Thompson describing initial confusion at the call and then a dawning sense of why it came. She framed the episode with humor, folding it into a conversation that also touched on the politics surrounding Primary Colors’ production and the endurance of certain romantic comedies in public memory.
